Bamboo Blade
A kendo manga and anime about a high school girls' team.
Wikipedia / Wikimedia Commons
Bamboo Blade (stylized as BAMBOO BLADE) is a Japanese manga series by writer Masahiro Totsuka and artist Aguri Igarashi. It ran in Square Enix's Young Gangan magazine from December 2004 to September 2010. The story centers on Toraji Ishida, an unlucky high school kendo teacher. After a former classmate—also a kendo instructor—challenges him to a match between their female students, Ishida sets out to recruit and train a five-girl team. He soon encounters Tamaki Kawazoe, a naturally talented young kendo practitioner. The manga was adapted into an anime by AIC A.S.T.A, which broadcast on TV Tokyo from October 2007 to April 2008. Yen Press handles the North American release of the manga, while Funimation distributes the anime, which started airing on the Funimation Channel on October 25, 2010.
Several characters share names with real professional kendo athletes, though there is no intended connection between the fictional and real figures. For instance, Toraji Ishida is named after Toshiya Ishida, Miyako Miyazaki after Masahiro Miyazaki, Danjuro Eiga after Naoki Eiga, and Kirino Chiba after Masashi Chiba. The exception is Eiga Dan, whose short stature appears to be a deliberate nod to the real Naoki Eiga, who is also not very tall.
The manga debuted in the seinen magazine supplement Young Gangan on December 3, 2004, and concluded on September 3, 2010. Its chapters were compiled into fourteen tankōbon volumes. Yen Press published the English version from May 12, 2009, to August 21, 2012, and released it digitally on April 22, 2014. A PSP video game titled *Bamboo Blade: Sorekara no Chousen*, an action game developed and published by Gadget Soft, came out in Japan in 2009.
In the June 2008 issue of U.K. magazine *impact*, Andrez Bergen noted that the series from AIC A.S.T.A
- type
- Manga and anime series
- manga_serialization
- December 2004 to September 2010
- anime_broadcast
- October 2007 to April 2008
- manga_volumes
- 14 tankōbon volumes
- manga_publisher
- Square Enix (Japan), Yen Press (North America)
- anime_studio
- AIC A.S.T.A
- genre
- Kendo, school life
Lore & Background
The manga Bamboo Blade was written by Masahiro Totsuka and illustrated by Aguri Igarashi, serialized in Square Enix's Young Gangan from December 3, 2004, to September 3, 2010. Its chapters were collected into fourteen tankōbon volumes. The story centers on Toraji Ishida, a luckless high school kendo instructor, who is challenged by his former upperclassman to a competition between their female students, prompting him to gather and train a team of five girls, where he meets the gifted Tamaki Kawazoe. Some character names are based on real professional kendo practitioners: Ishida Toraji on Toshiya Ishida, Miyako Miyazaki on Masahiro Miyazaki, Danjuro Eiga on Naoki Eiga, and Kirino Chiba on Masashi Chiba, though there are no relations between the characters and the real kendoka. Eiga Dan is the only exception, designed to represent Naoki Eiga, who is also not very tall.
Reader's Guide
Bamboo Blade is a notable entry in the kendo-themed manga and anime genre, distinguished by its focus on a female kendo team and its character names drawn from real professional kendo practitioners. The series ran for nearly six years in Young Gangan, and its anime adaptation by AIC A.S.T.A aired on TV Tokyo from 2007 to 2008. The manga was published in English by Yen Press from 2009 to 2012, and the anime was licensed by Funimation, airing on their channel in 2010. A PSP video game, Bamboo Blade: Sorekara no Chousen, was released in Japan in 2009. The series received attention from critics, with Andrez Bergen in the June 2008 issue of U.K. magazine impact noting that the anime follows a group of high school girls in a kendo team, contrasting with the producers' previous work Gun Sword. The series' legacy lies in its blend of sports and slice-of-life elements, and its availability in multiple media formats has helped it reach a broad audience.
Did You Know?
- The manga was serialized in Square Enix's Young Gangan magazine from December 2004 to September 2010.
- Some character names are based on real professional kendo practitioners, such as Ishida Toraji on Toshiya Ishida.
- A PSP video game titled Bamboo Blade: Sorekara no Chousen was released in Japan in 2009.
- The anime began airing on the Funimation Channel on October 25, 2010.
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